This is the home of

Alt Hacker Org

This is meant as a site to be built by the regulars in the
alt.hacker newsgroup. It will be a place to collect the types of
things that occur frequently in that group and make them available by
web-link.

We seek to return the definition of hacker to its old respectable meaning
rather than the movie/tv meaning it has fallen to. No promises are made or
implied by the existence of this site especially in reference to ValueHack
software.

A copy of the Internet RFC collection can be found
here.
This is not an official mirror.
It is updated automatically at 0400h (local) on the first day of every month.
network_noadle wrote the script to HTMLify the RFC index page, so blame him
for any link problems.

A copy of the How To Join the alt-hacker.org Bovine RC5-72 Attack team can be
found here.
This is a crypto project sponsored by RSA labs in the testing of 72-bit
encryption

Here is a links
page created by Big Bad Bob with input from various alt.hacker regulars.

This site has been provided free of charge by Gandalf Parker. You can
reach Gandalf by writing to him care of this address.

_____ __ ________
/ _ \ | ||__ __|
/ /_\ \| | | _|___ __
/ | | |___|/ | \____ ____ | | __ ____ __ _
\____|____| _____/ ~ \__ \ __\| |/ / __ | /
\ Y / __ \ \__| <\ __/| |
\__|__(_____/\___|__|__|\___\|__|
http://www.althacker.org/
http://www.alt-hacker.org/
#######################################################################
My ideas were it is a faq, and not rules. Rules are carved in stone and
in this ng we handle people on a case by case basis, so rules won't be
effective here.
-savant
***********************************************************************
### Section One: ###
-(1)- How can I hack this web site/ server?
-(2)- xxx passwd's?
-(3)- Will you help me get back at this ass hole? AKA how do I hack a
hacker?
-(4)- How to hack hotmail, AOL, yahoo ...etc?
-(5)- How do I get this persons passwd?
-(6)- I need a credit card number.
### Section Two: ###
-(1)- hacking t%lz; where can I get them, and how do I use them?
-(2)- Will you teach me how to be a hacker? AKA will you teach me how to
hack?
-(3)- How do I start to become a hacker?
### Section Three: ###
-(1)- What programming lang.'s should I learn?
-(2)- What books do I need to read?
-(3)- What projects can I help the hacker community with? Kind of an
open source initiative.
### Section Four: ###
-(1)- What is a hacker (as defined by the users of this ng)?
-(2)- How is a hacker different than a cracker, or a script kiddie?
### Section Five: ###
-(1)- What do I do if someone has hacked my passwd?
-(2)- I think I've been hacked; what should I do now?
### Section Six: ###
-(1)- Why should I use GNU/Linux, or Unix? AKA how is it better than
Mac0s(9.x/X), or
Windows(95/98/ME/NT/2k/XP)?
-(2)- What is alt.hacker, and what is "on topic" when on this news group?
***********************************************************************
--------------
### Section One: ###
-(1)- How can I hack this web site/ server?
+ On this ng we will not tell you how to break into web sites. We don't
think it is right, and even if you think you have a good reason we won't
help because it is off topic.
If you still want to do it we may suggest doing a web search on the
keywords your looking for, or looking into alt.cracks or some other type
of ng.
==
-(2)- xxx passwd's?
+ We don't have any; you could do a keyword search by typing @ ulr:
search then hit enter.
==
-(3)- Will you help me get back at this ass hole? AKA how do I hack a hacker?
+ Use some common sense! If somebody flames you on a hacker ng and you
get mad who would be the last people you would want to ask? Answer: more
hackers. In short, the answer to this question is NO, we will not help
you get back at somebody by cracking his/her box.
About getting help:
The reality is, a lot of us (not all) do crack on odd occasions. If you
tell a whole ng how somebody broke into your system what do you think
they heard? Blah blah blah he hacked blah blah and this is how he did
it. ... Which I haven't had a chance to fix yet ...
We will tell you how to get them (the attacker) caught, how to track
them (same) down, and even how to secure your box. What we will not
help you do is to get into trouble.
My mom used to tell me that: "The best revenge is to live well."
==
-(4)- How to hack hotmail, AOL, yahoo ...etc?
+ This is another no brainer. Do you really think we will tell you how
to break into our mail accounts? Think if you can do it to one you can
do it to them all. Right? About a million people read this ng daily; do
you want them to read your mail too? No.
*pssst* If you really want to hack hotmail ....SUBSCRIBE! Then you can
get any password, login combination you want.
==
-(5)- How do I get this persons passwd?
+ Ask them for it. I'm sure they would be happy to tell you what it is
...after they go and change it.
*See the section on hacking web sites/server.
==
-(6)- I need a credit card number.
+ Go hack a pamphlet! We all get about a hundred pamphlets in the mail
in any given year. If you can't hack a pamphlet go hack a dictionary
and then try again.
==
### Section Two: ###
-(1)- hacking t%lz; where can I get them, and how do I use them?
+ We won't discuss tools like this. We think they are un-ethical, and
are offended people think this is what hacking is "ALL about". If you ask
you may get the response that: try to write your own tool. This is
because we believe that hacking is about learning and doing things your
self.
If you really want help with these types of tools got to a ng like:
something.something.133t.scriptkiddz ....etc. Just don't expect much
feedback. They almost don't know how to make them work any more than
you do.
==
-(2)- Will you teach me how to be a hacker? AKA Will you teach me how to hack?
+ Some people have it in their mind that hacking is about breaking into
web sites on the internet, or that hacking is like the movie hackers.
That stuff is done, but hackers have a different name for it. We call it
cracking. So no, we will not tell you how to crack.
+ Now that you know what we will not talk about you can understand why
we can't tell you how to be a hacker. Either you are or you are not.
Hacking is defined by a desire to learn about things, any thing. A
hacker is so consumed by curiosity that you just can't help it. We can't
tell you how to develop that kind of interest. There is no degree form
Hack U. (university); no guide to guide you in this quest. No one can
dub you Sir Hacker, and with that said a quote from a post to our ng.
"Sure. Let me just pull out my trusty little hacker guide. (We each get
a copy when we graduate to hacker, ya know.)"
...what's this..?...
"Beware the individuals known as 'wannabes'. These creatures often lurk
in usenet, in any newsgroups with the word "hack" in the name. They
often post totally at random, with only one identifying pattern...their
inability to write a post which does not have the words 'tell', 'me',
and 'hack(er/ing/)' in close proximity.
"Unfortunately for you, these poor ignorant souls do not realize the
true nature of the Internet, and the immense amounts of information
stored therein. They have no awareness of the ability to search the 'Net
via sites like http://www.dogpile.com, http://www.mamma.com,
http;//astalavista.box.sk, and others. They are unable to find sites the
likes of http://www.l0pht.com, http://packetstorm.securify.com, or
http://www.cotse.com . Nay, they will invariably assume that you exist
solely to give others remedial information, and that you have been
sitting in a newsgroup for years just in case someone might decide to
step in to ask a stupid question."
Well, damn. It looks like i can't help you. :) It's against the hacker
secret by-laws and stuff.
-- cHaoTiCa (tm) cha0tica at mindspring dot com. All rights reserved.
*reproduced with the authors permission*
==
-(3)- How do I start to become a hacker?
+ If you got a `puter running well enough to read this FAQ then your on
the way. Read a lot (and I mean _a lot_). The Internet is an incredible
source of information. You can find almost anything. If you can't figure
out how to learn to become a hacker with this kind of resource at your
disposal then you should log your browser out of your porno site that's
eating up your systems RAM by piling your screen full of "pop-ups" and
point it to
http://slashdot.org/
and read a while. The point of this exercise is to see your level of
integrity in the face of this kind of overload of possible information
& what you intend on doing with it. The next exercise is to point your
browser at
http://www.theregister.co.uk/
and get your daily dose of cynicism. :) Don't miss out on the BOFH
while your there.
Being a hacker is about thinking, and not just following the herd.
Example: You know the emails that pop up in your email from time to time?
The ones everybody calls spam. They always have the "if you don't want
to get any more of these emails reply to blah blah blah with unsubscribe
as the subject. What do you think happens? Do you think they really
remove your address?
Think again. They add it to their special subscription list to be sold
(yes sold) to other companies as a valid, and working address for their
unwanted advertisements. Now you learned two qualities of a hacker.
==
### Section Three: ###
-(1)- What programming lang.'s should I learn?
+ Start on something like C and work your way up from there. No matter what
people say C is a great first lang. I know, it was mine. Mac OS 9 is
written in pascal (not(!), but they seem to still need p/ strings?), assembly
lang. (useful in debugging, but a massive project of it's self) & C/C++.
(now for Mac OS X 10.0) Windows is primarily in C++, and Unix (the
kernel) is written in C. AI is in lisp, or prolog.
This is my own bias, but I think it might be a good idea to add Python
to the list. It's a wonderful beginning language.
-- Devin
==
-(2)- What books do I need to read?
+ [These were graciously provided by Digital Overdrive with some minor additions
by me. Also with some added suggestions from a few other kind people.]
Routers:
- Introduction To Cisco Router Config
- Cisco IOS Essentials
Security and Firewalls:
- Firewalls Complete
- Handbook Of Info Security Management
- Navy Network Security
- Maximum Security
- Upgrading and Repairing Networks
- Building Linux & OpenBSD Firewalls (ISBN 0-471-35366-3)
TCP/IP:
- TCP/IP Illustrated Vols. 1,2,3 - W. Richard Stevens
- Apache Server Survival Guide
- Using Samba
- TCP/IP Clearly Explained 3rd E. (ISBN 0-12-455826-7)
Un*x:
- UNIX Unleashed, Internet Edition
- UNIX Unleashed, System Administrator's Edition
- Windows NT Internet and Intranet Development
- Linux System Administrator's Survival Guide
- RedHat Linux Unleashed
- Linux Command Reference
- Linux System Administrators Survival Guide
- Harley Hahn's Student Guide to Unix 2nd E. (ISBN 0-07-025492-3)
- Windows NT Security Handbook (ISBN 0-07-882240-8)
WindowsNT:
- Windows NT4 Administrator's Survival Guide (ISBN 0-672-31008-2)
Networking:
- DNS & BIND (O'Reilly)
- TCP/IP (O'Reilly)
- Sendmail (O'Reilly)
- Sendmail Desktop Ref (O'Reilly)
- Internet Firewalls (O'Reilly)
- UNIX & Internet Security (O'Reilly)
- Client Server Computing [Second Edition]
- How Intranets Work
Programming C and C++:
- The C Programming Language - Brian Kernighan & Dennis Ritchie
- The C++ Programming Language
- Bjarne Stroustroup The Complete Reference, C (ANSI) (ISBN
0-07-882101-0)
- Advanced Programming in the Unix Environment - W. Richard Stevens
- Unix Network Programming Vols. 1,2 - W. Richard Stevens
- ANSI/ISO C++ Professional Programmer's Handbook
- Linux Programming Unleashed (ISBN 0-672-31607-2)
- You might also consider the FAQs for comp.lang.c and comp.lang.c++.
Perl Books:
- Perl 5 Complete (McGraw-Hill)
- Perl 5 By Example
- Programming Perl 5.0 CGi Web Pages
- Perl 5 Unleashed
- Using Perl for Web Programming
- Perl Quick Reference
- Web Programming With Perl 5
Java:
- JFC Unleashed
- Special Edition Using Java 1.1
- Java Programming Gurus
- Intranet Applications with Java
- Java 1.2 Unleashed
- Java Expert Solutions
- Using Java, Second Edition
- Java Unleashed, Third Edition
- Java Developer's Edition
- Core Java Vols. 1,2 (ISBN 0-13-0809468-0)
Hacking:
- Hacking Exposed
- The Hacker crackdown
- Hackers Encyclopedia
- Maximum Linux Security (ISBN 0-672-31670-6)
General CGI:
- Using CGI
- CGI Developer's Guide
- CGI Programming Unleashed
Misc Programming/Web:
- Visual Basic 6 Database How-To
- Using Visual Basic 6
- Object-Oriented System Development
- How to Use HTML 3.2
- Developing ActiveX Components with VB
- ActiveX Unleashed
==
In due course, this list of books will be linked through to Amazon,
but for now click here and help support us before you purchase the book(s).
-(3)- What projects can I help the hacker community with? What about a kind
of an open source initiative?
+ The commercialization of the internet. That's what a lot of real
hackers are fighting. You invaded our playground that the U.S.
Government and Military practically hand over to us (the public) and
educational institutions to save the human race from becoming a race of
idiots and give students the resource to learn. Now all the companies
want to "Make Money" off the internet and the government has second
thoughts about it and ask who's gonna pay for it! Woop-T-do! Fuck you!
As for who's paying for the internet. I pay my fuckin' bill every
month.
-- guardian
+ In complete agreement. However the commercialization of the internet is
helping it to develop even further. You either go with progress or get
run over by it :-)
-- Daemon
+ I might add these same corperations wanting to just plug up anything
they want to the Internet with the expectation they can hire any idiot who
wants a pay check. Then if there is a break in they intend to solve it in a courtroom
instead of hiring more qualified help to realy prevent a break-in to
their network. After they win the network it still vunerable, and ripe for
the next courtroom incersion. This in fact should be criminal. The network
should it's self be hardened before it is ever considered ready for Internet
connection.
If we know they intend to press charges, then they should be expeced nay compeled
to prove before they are ever allowed connection to the global network
that they are ready for such a responsibility.
This is even more dire if they are entrusted by the public to protect
the details of commercial transactions, and other such private information.
-- de savant
+ GNU/Linux is always needing drivers for USB, PCMCIA, Firewire ...etc.
Mozilla is very active right now, and so is the open source DVD
projects. Their is an open voice over IP project. Emulators for all of our
favorite video game consoles. These are not all GNU/Linux based either Mozilla
even runs on Mac OS. The VoIP project is for Windows as well as other 0s'.
Both GnuStep and the HURD are in need of programmers too.
==
### Section Four: ###
-(1a)- What is a hacker (as defined by the users of this ng)?
-(1b)- Can someone please define me what is a hacker? I see these website
claiming to be hacking groups, and I see are tools that I swore were
tools of a cracker! Exploits I understand, but isn't it a hacker duty
to help find a fix to an exploit or suggest how you can protect
yourself. It is so sad now and day the word "hacker" "hacking" "hack"
has been "Rapped" of its true meaning. Even I for myself am not sure
what it means! So anyone here please define for me what is a TRUE hacker?
-- ThyJok3r@aol.com
+ Answers from the web:
http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/html/entry/hacker.html
http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html
+ I think a hacker is what you are. It is NOT what you do, or can do
("if you wanted to"). It is seeing a problem and taking the high road
to its solution.
It is not like somebody can sit down and do what we do and become a
hacker in a few hours. It is more than that. It is being able to jump from a strictly
logical approach into an a-logical solution. "When all else fails go with
what works."
That's a hacker. Not starting up a few progs (you may or may not have
written). It is the over whelming desire to learn like a consuming fire
burning from within. It is apart of you, and is not defined by a few things
you do every day.
+ I've had some time to think about this now, and I think a hacker is
someone who learns a subject very well and is willing to share the
fruits of that knowledge with others freely. They tend to have a high
moral ethic, and a openness to help others.
+ Many in this newsgroup do subscribe to the thoughts that illegal
actions are those of "crackers", but we don't seem to come to any
agreement that a hacker is necessarily the other side of the law.
To hack is to actually seek the unknown knowledge, but I don't think we
have tried to tie hack completely into any particular use of that
knowledge. There are crackers who are hackers and actually discover new
holes. But most crackers nowadays seem to be nothing more than
script-kiddies who have no idea what to do with a system after unpacking
an exploit onto it. There are hackers on the side of law and order.
There are hackers who pursue the knowledge for its own sake and the fun
of the challenge even if they are only hacking their own computer.
Here we tend to send crackers over to other newsgroups for obviously
illegal questions and answers, but that doesn't mean that we are all the
white-hat good-guys either. At the most we are... kind of hmmm..
cloak-and-dagger grey :)
Informing people that they are trying to do something illegal is very
correct for this newsgroup so if anyone doesn't want "smart asses with
useless advice" then they need to try a newsgroup which is more
appropriate such as alt.2600.crackz
On the other hand, if the person shows an interest in figuring it out,
we might help them. We need to probe and see whether this is a hacker
request, or just someone wanting the final product. Seekers of the final
product (hacked accounts, credit cards, free shit) we have other names
for.
Come here for knowledge, go there for answers. If you don't know the
difference, go to AOL.
-- Gandalf Parker
*reproduced with the authors permission*
==
-(2)- How is a hacker different than a cracker, or a script kiddie?
+
One is not a duck.
-- Devin
Script Kiddies are worse in a way. They want to collect a bunch of
pre-written scripts that will allow them to chalk up "kills" and claim
what dangerous "hackers" they are. They only want a high score of sites
and enough scripts to hurt anyone who makes them mad. They will probably
never write such a script them self nor will they ever be hackers.
-- Gandalf Parker
*reproduced with the authors permission*
==
### Section Five: ###
-(1)- What do I do if someone has hacked (cracked) my passwd?
+ Change it. If it was on a network tell the sysadmin, or just send an
email to root.
==
-(2)- I think I've been hacked; what should I do now?
+ Changing your password would be a good start. Backing up your personal
files and reinstalling your operating system would be the next.
Most users don't have the resources to do much more than this. They
need a functional machine and don't have the know how needed to do much more than
installing patches to keep their OS current.
==
### Section Six: ###
-(1)- Why should I use GNU/Linux, or Unix? AKA how is it better than
Mac0s(9.x/X), or Windows(95/98/ME/NT/2k/XP)?
+ GNU/Linux & Unix are both multitasking & Multiuser operating systems.
This means you can do more than a single thing on them at a time along with other
users. Like making a new pgp key set, logging in as a different user and
surfing the web at the same time. Windows(95/98/ME/XP) can't do this. You
could do more than a single thing at once, but you will notice a slow
down.
Another good thing is that almost everything that you might need
is free software or open source which is nice on your bottom line. This
will also always be the programmer's 0s.
Mac OS X is the same way. It's BSD. It's multiuser and multitasking.
It has a new beautiful GUI! It'll bring a tear^H^H^H^Haqua to your eye. ;)
I must say though I like to surf the web, play games (& emulators) and
check my mail and read my ng's under this 0s because it is more fun. The
down side for it being BSD is that it is bloated to hell and you need the
latest and greatest Apple has to run it.
You must know too that there are some things that will only work under
Windows(95/98/ME/XP). Like some modems, printers, and other equipment &
software simply because no one has written the drivers or ported the
software yet.
Windows(NT) is multitasking, but it crashes a lot. It has it's features
though. It is a networking operating system like unix, but this is its
only feature. It lacks a lot of the graphics & USB support that its
non-networking(98) counter part has.
Windows(2k) is multitasking (I would go for the server version if this
is the 0s of choice for you. It will have more for you to learn.),
but it still has one overwhelming weakness. Achilles heal if you will.
It is not even open source let alone free software.
Windows(XP) is (2k) with all the games and drivers from (98). It's
still not free software, and even worse it's spyware as only MS could do it.
GNU/Linux isn't perfect. It plays some mean games, it is a networking and
multitasking operating system. Netscape [4.79] (its primary web browser) is
still kinda unstable, and now outdated. Version 6 really sucks too
since AOL/TW bought it.
Note: Mozilla is now in a position to be the primary web browser for Linux
and KDE's web/file manager is a close second.
Linux has second to none networking tools, packet sniffers, portscanners,
raid tools ...etc. It is also a server 0s. It has the best hard core
code hacking tools like gcc, and emacs! Even Java is fully supported.
Not everything is supported under this 0s (worth note here is the
hardware is better supported than the people you will talk to. Companies
will refuse to discuss anything with a user running this 0s. The
sysadmin of my ISP assumed that if anything was wrong with my account it
had to be the GNU/Linux I was running and not his servers. *it was his
servers we found out later* The only thing that I can recommend is to
know your GNU/Linux, and tell them: "You do your job and let me handle the
GNU/Linux side of the issue. I can handle it." This is getting better by the
day now. ) like I said it isn't perfect, but get this if it isn't YOU
can change that.
It is free software, and open source. It runs on almost any computer
architecture. This is because it is open source. Somebody like you
wanted it to run on their notebook computer and ported it over to RISC
ISA, or wrote the PCMCIA drivers. GNU/Linux now supports USB. (2.4.1) It is
the 0s I use to get "real" work done, like hacking out programs doing
research on the web, or network trouble shooting.
Update: A new mach based GNU system called "The HURD" (or just HURD) is
starting to get interesting. Just like Mac OS X it has a mach (gnumach)
core and a Unix-like interface. The GNUStep (derived from the OpenStep
specification) is now also maturing rapidly into a very useable system
GUI.
It so happens this is the same type of UI that Apple's Mac OS X uses for
It's Apple Aqua interface. Many programs that were written for GNUStep
work just as you would expect them to after a X-compile on Mac OS X.
All that is needed now is to work out the DGS (display postscript
system) to work as the XDM system works now. That way it will be fully OpenStep
compliant! =^)
==
-(2)- What is alt.hacker, and what is on topic when on this news group?
+ We will discuss almost anything. By almost I mean that we will not
talk about ways that you can get into trouble. We don't want trolling,
or working off other individuals vendetta's. Spam is also a strong no-no,
but almost anything else goes. Within reason of course.
==
+--------------------+
| PLEASE DO NOT FEED |
| THE TROLLS. |
| THANK YOU. |
| -- The Management |
+--------------------+
| |
| | O
o | | |
__\|/___=\| |/=_\|/____
/*****************************************************************
* Let's not get nutz either. Lets keep them as informative *
* (intellectual) and inoffensive as possible. ;) *
* *
* -savant *
*****************************************************************/
Version info/changes:
Posted by: de savant on Thu, 11 Jul 2002 08:36:17 GMT
Changed for reference to jargon file on 2002-09-04 by Bodo Eggert
Slight updates done on restoration 01 Jan 2006 by Gandalf Parker